Private Pilots Licence

Qualification

You will be learning to fly in order to achieve a European Private Pilots Licence with a single engine piston class rating, which will enable you to fly aircraft in that class upto a maximum take-off weight of 5,700kg in any European country for private and recreational purposes only (i.e. not for any commercial gain).

Pre-course requirements

You must be a minimum of 17 years old to obtain your licence. (You may start training from the age of 14). In order to fly solo the student must be at least 16 years of age and be the holder of a valid Class 2 Medical certificate issued by a CAA Authorised Medical Examiner. It is strongly recommended that the student pilot obtains a Class 2 medical certificate at the earliest opportunity. Details of where to obtain CAA medicals can be obtained from us upon request.

Flight Training

The CAA requires you to complete a minimum of 45 hours of flight instruction in an aeroplane. 25 hours of this must be dual flight instruction (with an instructor) and 10 hours solo with you acting as pilot-in-command of which 5 hours must be cross-country flights (flying away from your base training airfield).

The flying lessons consist of exercises taken from the syllabus and are designed to equip you with the knowledge for your first solo* flight. Examples of these exercises are aircraft familiarisation, climbing and descending, turning, slow flights and circuits. After this you will move onto steep turns, emergency drills and instrument flying, which in turn leads on to dual and solo navigation tasks. Each lesson concludes with a clearly defined exercise planned for your next lesson. Initially, the duration of each flying lesson is about an hour in the air. As you progress through the syllabus the exercises may require two to three hours actual flying time.

Most of your training is preparing you for your qualifying cross country – a triangular route of no less than 150 nautical miles which will include landing away at two different airfields. The final task to qualify for your licence is the skills test – a practical flying test consisting of general handling of the aircraft and navigation.

*Before your first solo flight and in addition to having passed the Air Law ground exam, you will need to have your medical certificate. There are several Aero Medical Examiners (AMEs) in the area and we can provide contact details for these.

Theory

You are required to take multiple choice exams in 9 subjects.
Each exam consists of between 12 and 20 multiple choice questions, with a pass mark of 75%.

If you have any further questions regarding the exams please feel free to contact the school reception.

Air Law– To be passed before your first solo flight

Operational Procedures – To be passed before your first solo flight

Meteorology

Navigation

Flight Performance and Planning

Aircraft General Knowledge

Principles of Flight

Human Performance

Communications

Radio Telephony (RT) practical exam

Although this is not a pre-requisite for licence application following your training, you will require it before you can exercise your PPL privileges.
We can provide you with the required training and test with one of our in-house examiners. This is usually completed by our students during the end part of their training for the PPL.

Cost

The cost of your lessons are based on the flight time (actual time from when the brakes are release and you start moving off in the aircraft until the brakes are applied again at the end of your flight). Your training will be significantly improved if you are able to attend regularly in order to keep continuity and your newly learnt skills are kept current and in practice. This will reduce the amount of training required inorder for you to reach the level required to pass the PPL skills test and will therefore save you money.
We offer a couple of payment options, including our Flying Start, PPL Builder package. For more information and other options give us a call on 01252 870999